title: Activation of elements in HERV-W family by caffeine and aspirin.
abstract: Caffeine and aspirin have been suggested to be involved in neurologic diseases, such as schizophrenia, and previous data have revealed that abnormal expression of HERV-W elements may be an important factor in the etiopathogenesis of those diseases. In this article, we reported that caffeine and aspirin contributed to the expression of HERV-W env and gag in Human SH-SY5Y neuroblastoma cells. Semi-quantitative RT-PCR and quantitative Real-time PCR were used to detect the mRNA of HERV-W env and gag in cells exposed to caffeine or aspirin. Western blotting was used to detect the protein of HERV-W env. Luciferase activity assay was employed to detect the activity of HERV-W env promoter. It was found that both caffeine and aspirin could increase the expression of HERV-W env and gag in human SH-SY5Y neuroblastoma cells. Caffeine could activate the HERV-W env promoter, while aspirin could not. With previous studies we can conjecture that HERVs might play a bridging role between environmental factors, such as drugs and neurologic diseases.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Microbiology, School of Medicine, Wuhan University, 185 Donghu Road, Wuhan, 430071, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Chunlan
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: Yatang
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: Shan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: Honglian
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Yu
authors.forename: Jie
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Zeng
authors.forename: Xiuling
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Fan
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Zhu
mesh_terms: D001241:Aspirin / Q000378:metabolism*; D015153:Blotting, Western; D002110:Caffeine / Q000378:metabolism*; D045744:Cell Line, Tumor; D020077:Endogenous Retroviruses / Q000187:drug effects*; D020869:Gene Expression Profiling; D015686:Gene Products, env / Q000096:biosynthesis / Q000235:genetics; D015683:Gene Products, gag / Q000096:biosynthesis / Q000235:genetics; D017930:Genes, Reporter; D006801:Humans; D008156:Luciferases / Q000032:analysis / Q000235:genetics; D009474:Neurons / Q000187:drug effects / Q000821:virology; D012333:RNA, Messenger / Q000096:biosynthesis / Q000235:genetics; D060888:Real-Time Polymerase Chain Reaction; D015533:Transcriptional Activation / Q000187:drug effects*
chemical_list: D015686:Gene Products, env; D015683:Gene Products, gag; D012333:RNA, Messenger; D002110:Caffeine; D008156:Luciferases; D001241:Aspirin